@whyrichard Hello I went down a trail similar to yours, and so glad I left it all behind, what a relief.
I got involved with lots of tubes stuff my last big mistake was the PL EVO 400 pre, PL EVO 400 amp and just to put the big mistake cherry on top free falling down the rabbit hole the PL Dac. For a solid year I tried different tubes and spent a lot of money for nothing. When the amp blew a fuse and a EL34 stock tube quit working that was it for me, bought all new stock tubes and sold all the PL stuff to one great local guy.
Now what, no amp or preamp done with tubes I spent a lot of time with emails to Nelson Pass a great guy, (long story short get rid of the tube stuff), I ended up with the Pass Labs preamp, Pass Labs XA-25 amp waiting for the First Watt Sit-4 to began production..the Sit-4 arrived 6 months later, it’s glorious, no more tube stuff running through my brain…do yourself a favor get solid state that sounds good to your ears, otherwise you will always be falling into that tube rabbit hole…I am now in music nirvana, Pass preamp, First Watt Sit-4 amp, Volti Audio Lucera speakers.
NEVER GOING BACK TO TUBE STUFF, MY WIFE BANNED ME FROM TUBES..